‘Heat’ is a powerful sensory stimulus – look at how it is used in advertising everything from perfumes to cars. Heat equates to danger, excitement, sexual attraction. Plants can very much evoke a sense of heat too, with vivid colours setting the pulse racing. Rudbeckia and Echinacea are two prairie …

Drosera adelae (Lace-Leaf Australian Sundew Origin: Australia The tiny paddle-like hairy leaves are covered with drops of sticky goo, which trap insects that are attracted to the plant. In summer the sundews are topped with thin spikes holding small pink flowers. Sundews are winter hardy in most of the …

Korean Ginseng is part of the Araliaceae family and is also known as Panax, Asian, or Chinese ginseng. It is the original ginseng, and is the one revered most by the Chinese. It is very rare in the wild, and most sold today is cultivated commercially. Peeled roots are steamed before drying, and produce …

The King Palm is one of the most beautiful and stately palms. Its smooth, green trunk is tall, slender, and predominantly ringed. Its intricate dark green foliage is 8-10 feet in length. The King Palm is hardy to 28 degrees. A fast-growing palm, it reaches a height of 20-50 feet with little maintenance. …

Also known as Huang Yu Lan. It is the oil of this michelia that is the essence of JOY, the world s most expensive perfume. It can grow from a trunk of 16 inch into a giant tree over 30 feet. On the tip of every branch, flowers blossom all year round with yellow-orange petals, diffusing delicate fragrance …

The Starlight Weeping Fig (Ficus benjamina Starlight is a new variegated form of durable green Weeping Fig. Just like it s green counterpart, Starlight prefers very bright indirect light. Keep evenly moist, but not wet or dry. Trim as needed. Left alone the Starlight Weeping Fig can reach 6 feet tall. …

This unique plant resembles a palm tree but is actually a cycad. These living fossils, members of the Cycadaceae family, dominated the landscape during the Mesozoic era over 150 million years ago. Today about 10 genera of cycads still survive. The most commonly grown is the Japanese sago, also called …

Native to the Mascarene islands. Long arching fronds with broad leaflets to 3 having a blackish grey trunk to 30. Known for flowering at early age and for its bulging base and large crownshaft. Beautiful in the tropical landscape. Hardy in zones 10-11. …

Earlier and much more productive in the North than regular habaneros. Magnificent, elongated and wrinkled, lantern-shaped fruits are 3-4 long. Bigger than our regular habaneros, they pack the same mouth-blistering heat. Tall plants put on a colorful display through the summer as the fruits change from …

Lava rock from the Big Island of Hawaii is hand selected to provide a home for your Pink Quill Tillandsia plant. These exotic plants thrive on their rock homes and make excellent house, dormitory or office plants! …

Globe Artichokes were cultivated by the Greeks and Romans who obtained them from North Africa. They have been grown in England since at least the 1500 s and were considered an aristocratic vegetable. King Henry VIII (1491-1547; he who had 6 wives but could produce only 3 children) was particularly fond …

THE CASTOR BEAN is a shrub-like plant with large, long-stemmed leaves that are lobed like fingers. Its spiny, clustered seed pods contain white, bean-like seeds (Botanically speaking, it isn t a true bean, but a Spurge), which typically bear attractive markings in various colours. The plant is native …

Tall 7 foot tobacco plant with large leaves and pink blooms and striking variegated foliage. Large 30-cm leaves, 5-cm flowers. Same botanical species as the cultivated tobacco and can be smoked. Leaves contain nicotine and can also be used to make an organic insecticide. Full sun. …

A striking fan palm to 30 with straight smooth trunk with some fiber patterning at the x. Its numerous palmate leaves are 4 wide, 5 long and undivided with many pleats. Fast grower. Fragrant brownish flowers. Tropical. One of the most attractive Pritchardias, grown widely in tropical countries and sought …

Darwin called the plant Hedysarum; modern botanists call it either Desmodium gyrans or, more correctly these days, Codariocalyx motorius; its common name is Dancing Grass or Telegraph plant or Semaphore plant -- after the leaf movements, which resemble semaphore signals. …

Musella lasiocarpa is an exciting banana relative that comes from high altitudes (to frosty 2800m / 9200ft!) in the Yunnan province in China. The maximum height of the plant is only about 1.5m / 5ft, half of which is a very stout, conical trunk, topped by a crown of handsome, slightly glaucous, broad …

Eucalyptus is an enormous and fascinating genus. It comprises over 700 species, and accounts for more than two-thirds of Australia s vegetation. It is unfortunate that they are frequently regarded as not being reliably hardy outside of the subtropics, because it discourages people from planting them …

Large tobacco species growing up to the size of a small tree. Bluish foliage with rubber texture. Small tubular yellow flowers, about 4 cm long. Huge plant, 3 to 4 m high. Needless to say, this plant needs a very big container. Toxic foliage containing an alkaloid similar to nicotine. Hardy to -5 Celsius. …

The Black Mystic Earths Star (Cryptanthus) is an easy to grow house plant forming rosettes of leaves. The leaves are succulent, with wavy margins and teeth; they are strongly banded in silver and black. The white flowers appear nested in the center in this plant. Cryptanthus tolerate a temperature range …

The Bismarck Fan Palm is another beautiful and desirable fan palm suitable for sub-tropical climates; although it can be grown as far north as Sarasota, Florida (freeze damage will occur, but the palm quickly recovers). Bismark Palms are native to Madagascar. Tolerates dought and frost. Is adaptable …

Eucalyptus is an enormous and fascinating genus. It comprises over 700 species, and accounts for more than two-thirds of Australias vegetation. It is unfortunate that they are frequently regarded as not being reliably hardy outside of the subtropics, because it discourages people from planting them in …

Groundcovers are low-growing plants that form a sod as they develop in a horizontal direction. Some varieties are evergreen and some are even reasonably tolerant of being walked on. An advantage of using groundcovers is that their closely-knit carpet of leaves gives weeds down. …